Capital Facts

Time to get out of the House

Published by admin on Mon, 10/09/2017 - 11:29am

    If it seems to you that more legislators are announcing their retirements than in the past, you're right, at least about the House.
    With last week’s retirement announcement by Rep. David Harris, R-Arlington Heights, a total of 24 House members have either resigned or announced that they weren't running for re-election.
    That compares to 16 state Representatives who retired or resigned during the 99th General Assembly, a two-year period that ended last January.

Rauner’s pro-choice vote builds GOP distrust

Published by admin on Wed, 10/04/2017 - 9:00am

 

One reason why Gov. Bruce Rauner promised to veto HB40 last spring was to prevent a House Republican revolt on the state budget.

Illinois leaders talk state construction project

Published by admin on Wed, 09/27/2017 - 9:00am

 

The four leaders met last week, but didn't appear to accomplish much of anything.

Everyone’s leaving office but Madigan

Published by admin on Mon, 09/18/2017 - 1:12pm

    Late last Thursday night I was chasing a story about the rumored retirement of state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, Illinois’ first ever female House Majority Leader, when I got a text message from a high-level employee of Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
    She asked if she could call me Friday morning about something her boss was doing that day. I said of course, and went back to work.
    A few minutes later, Leader Currie finally returned my repeated calls and texts and I forgot all about the AG Madigan request.

School funding bill puts state on right path

Published by admin on Mon, 09/11/2017 - 12:50pm

    Lost in much of the hoopla over the process of passing school funding reform through the Illinois General Assembly is the fact that this is a pretty darned good and far-reaching bill.

Moving on after education reform approved

Published by admin on Wed, 09/06/2017 - 9:00am

 

It’s been clear for decades that the way Illinois funds its public schools has been wrong-headed. But finding a solution has eluded everyone who has tried. Until now.

Things not getting better on Rauner’s watchThings not getting better on Rauner’s watch

Published by admin on Mon, 08/28/2017 - 2:05pm

    After years of harshly bad-mouthing the state’s economy, Gov. Bruce Rauner has pivoted in the past couple of weeks as the campaign season has heated up.
    “I’m proud since I became governor,” he said recently, “we have recruited and added around 120,000 new jobs to the state of Illinois.”
    “But,” Rauner said, “we should be growing at four or five times that rate. But we have red tape and restrictions, regulations on our businesses. I have advocated change that, so far, Speaker Madigan has resisted.”

Rauner’s school funding vote will define him forever

Published by admin on Wed, 08/23/2017 - 9:00am

 

Gov. Bruce Rauner has said for the past several days that he's open to just about any sort of compromise in order to get school funding reform signed into law.

Rauner veto would slash funds to schools with TIFs

Published by admin on Mon, 08/14/2017 - 11:02am

    Chicago has vast property wealth and the largest population by far in Illinois. But it also has a large amount of that property wealth locked up in Tax Increment Financing districts.

Rauner’s staffers may be out to kill education reform bill

Published by admin on Wed, 08/09/2017 - 9:00am

 

The education funding reform bill which passed the House and Senate in May and was finally sent to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk in July was the product of four years of research, endless listening tours and lots of hard bargaining.